Means Industries, Inc.

Robert D Fetting

Brice A Pawley

Gregory M Eisengruber

Terry O Hendrick

Jeffrey C Hoppe

Joshua A Bukoffsky

A compact overrunning coupling and control assembly having reduced part count and manufacturing complexity is provided. An actuator arm moves a control element from a first position which corresponds to a first mode of the assembly to a second position which corresponds to a second mode of the assembly. An actuator piston is disposed within the bore of a housing and has an outer surface in sliding contact with the inner surface of the housing and a groove formed in the outer surface of the piston to receive and retain a free end portion of the actuator arm therein. A control pressure signal within the housing causes the piston to slide within the bore against a biasing force to move the actuator arm.

Compact overrunning coupling and control assembly having reduced part count and manufacturing complexity

Overrunning coupling and control assemblies, each of which includes control apparatus having a latching mechanism are provided. Each latching mechanism prevents an actuator arm of an overrunning coupling assembly from moving in a first direction substantially parallel to a shift direction of a control plate of the coupling assembly within a housing slot in a locked condition of the mechanism in a first position of the control plate. A control pressure signal within a bore of the housing changes the condition of the latching mechanism from locked to unlocked to unlock the actuator arm and causes the unlocked actuator arm to move along the first direction within the slot and the control element to move along the shift direction to a second position. The control pressure signal also causes a piston which has a groove formed in its outer surface to receive and retain a free end portion of the actuator arm to slide within the bore in the housing against the biasing force of the at least one biasing member. In the absence of a control pressure signal, the at least one biasing member moves the piston and thereby the unlocked actuator arm in a second direction opposite the first direction within the slot and the control element along the shift direction from the second position back to the first position and changes the condition of the latching mechanism from unlocked to locked to lock the actuator arm.

Overrunning coupling and control assembly including apparatus having a latching mechanism

An overrunning coupling assembly and a method of controlling the engagement of planar first and second members are provided wherein the assembly includes clustered pawls and their respective pawl-holding portions. The planar first and second members have inside surfaces extending generally normal to a first axis. The pawls include a forward set of free-floating pawls and a reverse set of free-floating, clustered pawls. The forward and reverse sets of pawls are movable between a notch-engaging, engaged position and a disengaged position. Because of the clustering, a control element, disposed between the first and second surfaces, need not be fully circular and is controllably rotatable about the first axis between first and second angular positions relative to the first member.

Overrunning coupling assembly including clustered pawls and method for controlling the engagement of planar members

An overrunning clutch () has first and second clutch members () having coupling faces () and () between which spring biased pivotal struts () and locking formations () cooperate to prevent relative rotation in only one direction. A snap ring () and thrust plate () cooperate to axially secure the clutch members () and () to each other and the thrust plate has a retainer () projecting therefrom to prevent rotation. The retainer () in certain embodiments is received between ends () of the snap ring () to prevent thrust plate rotation.

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Caro, MI, United States of America

Robert D Fetting